Former for restoring bent wick-tubes



(No Model.)

J; S. WHITE. FORMER FUR 'R'BfiTORING BENT WIUK TUBES.

Patented Apr. 9, 1889..

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN S. WHITE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

FORMER F OR RESTORING BENT WlCK-TUBES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 401,234, dated April 9, 1889. Application filed May 31, 1888. Serial No. 275,603. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN S. \VHITE, of Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Formers for Restoring Bent or Battered Wick-Tubes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

Hy invention relates to a former for restoring bent or battered wick-tubes to their normal shape; and it consists in certain features of construction and in combinations of parts, hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim.

The wick-tubes of lamps and lanterns are usually of very thin sheet metal, and consequently are easily battered or bent, so that the wick will not operate freely therein. More especially the lanterns used in railway-service are subject to such frequent mishaps that a wick-tube that had not met with disaster in the way of jams or bruises and further distortion by the application of perhaps a jackknife, old nail, or possibly the tip end of a poker, as a means of distending the tube, so that the wick would operate, would probably be an exception. I have therefore provided a simple device of such small dimensions that it may conveniently be carried in the pocket and by means of which the bent or battered end of a wick-tube may be readily restored to its normal shape.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in perspective. Fig. 2 is a side elevation.

A represents the wick-tube, and B a former adapted to fit snugly inside of such tube, the

end of the former at I) being beveled or rounded off to approximately a thin edge. However badly bent or battered the end of the wick-tube may be, there will usually be at least one point where the thin corner of the former may be inserted, (see Fig. 1,) after which there will be no difficulty in inserting the former to its full size, whereupon by rubbing the outside of the wick-tube with a smooth piece of metal-for instance, with the back of a pocket-knife or even with a piece of hard wood-the wick-tube will be restored to its normal form, so that the wick will operate therein as well as when the tube was new.

In Fig. 1 are shown two formers of different size made integral. In Fig. 2 fourformers of different size and intended to fit, respectively, the difierent sizes of wick-tubes in common use, are made integral. The hole 0 lightens the device and furnishes a convenient means of attaching the former to, for instance, a split ring, such as keys are commonly attached to.

The device is quite inexpensive and will be found very convenient, especially for railroad employs.

hat I claim is A former for restoring wick-tubes of lamps or lanterns, said former being adapted to fit snugly inside the wick-tube, the former having a thin edge at the end thereof, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification,in the presence of two witnesses, this 13th day of March, 1888.

JOHN S. WHITE.

Witnesses:

GHAs. H. Donna, ALBERT E. LYNCH. 

